High school student Lauren Cheatle is earning comparisons with the multi-sport superstar after this week being named in the New South Wales Breakers squad for the upcoming summer, despite being just 15 years old.

That’s right, 15.

It makes little Lauren younger than Perry was when she made her state debut, with Cheatle in line to become the youngest player to ever represent NSW in cricket.

And the comparisons with one of the most marketable figures in Australian sport don’t stop there. Like Perry, Cheatle excels at other sports — she plays competitive netball and has been selected in representative teams in indoor cricket.

Breakers coach Jo Broadbent is conscious of not placing too much expectation on the youngster, but admits the comparison is too hard to resist.

“I was coaching at youth level when I first met Ellyse and she’s something special, and I think Lauren’s definitely got something special as well,” Broadbent said.

Like Perry, Cheatle is a pace bowling all-rounder who excels in the field. She has featured in NSW under-age sides for several years already, catching the eye of Broadbent back in 2012.

“I’m leading into my third season in this role (as NSW coach), so the last couple of years I’ve seen her in our U15 environment and thought ‘gee, that’s a good player coming through the system’,” Broadbent said.

“That year (2012) we were just observing her in our club games and U15 championship, and then the next year we involved her in City v Country selection trials we had for the Breakers.

“She played in those matches, and we just went ‘wow’. She was 14 at the time, but we like to look more at their ability than their age so we weren’t fussed that she was 14.”

There are, however, certain drawbacks that come with such extreme youth. For one, she can only come to training once a week because she still lives with her parents in Bowral and attends school there.

While Broadbent insists Cheatle is ready to play against adults, some of whom will literally be twice her age, there are certain hoops she’ll have to jump through to prove she’s ready for the mental test such a leap presents.

Lauren Cheatle in action for NSW U15s in 2012.Source:News Limited

“That’s going to be her biggest test, is mentally,” Broadbent says. “That’s what we’re sort of working with her at the moment, taking small steps and getting her in the environment and getting her around more senior players.

“We’ve got a camp this weekend that’s not really cricket-specific, so we’ll get some more ideas on how she fits in with the group.”

One senses the genuine excitement in Broadbent’s voice when she describes the teen prodigy as “captain material” and someone that’s “got it all”. Cheatle has cricket in her blood, her father Giles a former spin bowler from England who played for Sussex and Surrey in the 1970s and 1980s.

But rather than living in her father’s footsteps, it seems Cheatle is destined to follow a path more similar to that trodden by 23-year-old Perry, who has gone on to win a World Cup and World T20 with the Southern Stars — as well as playing in a football World Cup with the Matildas.

Broadbent believes it won’t be too long before Cheatle is challenging for a spot in the national side.

“Potentially, if she’s to play her best cricket this year she could find herself putting a Breakers shirt on, and I think they’ll be very interested in her at the national level because there seems to be a deficiency of quick bowlers,” Broadbent said.

“Lauren would have to be somewhere in the top 10 (fast bowlers) around the country. She’s definitely a chance.”